Beast, Blood, & Soul

* 26 *

"Jin!"  I scream, "You scared me."  I started to laugh as I caught myself.  He laughs with me.

"Sorry, I didn't expect to see you here, either."   Smiling, he walks into the cave and turns on a generator connected to some lamps that light up the whole cave.  I think more light makes this room look even worse.  The harnesses look more ominous in full light. Jin notices my expression.

"So you now understand what we mean by how vile the witch is."  He says quietly, his expression falling as he looks around at the horror around us.

"Yeah, I get it. The curse itself was vile enough, but this?  No wonder Yoongi freaked out."  I shake my head.  My heart breaks for all they've been going through.

"Exactly.  She bound us 500 years ago in restraints much like this.  We were tied to trees with rope then. Our changed natures call for stronger materials." 

"I don't understand what she is thinking. Why go through all this for 500 years?"  I look at him with a helpless expression.

"She stopped being sane many years ago."  He replies.  "What have you got there?"  He points to the jacket in my hands.

"Oh, this is a child's jacket I found in the wardrobe."  I hold it up but don't elaborate on what I'm thinking it means.  I can't shake the hunch that this coat was mine and that terrifies me.

"We saw that last time, but I didn't make much of it at the time.  What do you think it means?" The look in his eyes becomes intense as he looks at me.  I hesitate, intimidated by my worries.

"I'm not sure.  It doesn't look like a child lived here at all, so I don't think it's a child connected to the witch.  It wouldn't make sense for a mom to forget her child's coat."  Should I mention my fear about what my dreams could mean?  Is this my coat?  I wish I could remember what I was wearing that day.

"I doubt this woman would be a loving parent."  Jin comments.  I look up at him, trying to decipher what he knows.  He knows more than what he's revealing.

"What makes you say that?"  I ask him.

"She doesn't care for life.  She cared not for the families she destroyed. The lives she shattered.  Her obsession with obtaining what she saw as hers allowed her to destroy all our lives. I don't see that personality as the type to care about a child. A child would be just an object to be used."  He points to the jacket in my hands, "See? The jacket is torn. Not kept in good repair."

The jacket being torn doesn't mean anything, if I was playing hard enough in the forest that day to get my clothes so dirty and torn, my jacket could easily have been damaged.  What was I doing? Why can't I remember it? I look at the tears in the jacket and I can't help but think of my mother's words: 'You came home dirty as a pig, clothes all torn and muddy. 

"The magic of the forest,"  I whisper to myself.  Jin hears me.

"Magic of the forest?"  Jin asks me.  I look up at him, his eyes are even more intense than before. Damn wolf hearing.

"It's something my mother said.  She and I were talking about when I fell in love with the forest and she said that I came home from that school trip all muddy and my clothing was torn."

"Why were you talking to your mom about the forest?"  he takes a step closer. 

"I believe I told you once that I was having dreams about a cave?"  I keep my eye on him, watching his reaction.  He nods.  "Well, I've had more of them.  They feel so real, and so I've been wondering if they are more memories than dreams. The only problem is that I don't remember anything like what I see in them."